The Prevalence of Responders and Non-Responders for Body Composition, Resting Blood Pressure, Musculoskeletal, and Cardiorespiratory Fitness after Ten Weeks of School-Based High-Intensity Interval Training in Adolescents

Abstract

Many observations have demonstrated great heterogeneity in the magnitude of the response to the physical exercise stimulus. Only a few studies have investigated the effects of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) on the prevalence of non-responders (NRs) in adolescents while considering health-related fitness measurements and other co-variables. Therefore, the aim of the current work was twofold: (1) to assess the effects of ten weeks of school-based HIIT on the prevalence of responders (Rs) and NRs for body composition, resting blood pressure (BP), cardiorespiratory and musculoskeletal fitness, and (2) to assess the relationship of this prevalence with sex, body mass category, and biological maturation status, while estimating the likelihood of a response. Adolescents aged 16 years (n = 73) were included in the study. Waist-to-hip ratio, body fat percentage (BFP), skeletal muscle mass (SMM), BP, cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), and musculoskeletal fitness were the primary outcomes. Co-variables included sex, body mass index (BMI), and maturity offset. The percentages of the Rs and NRs were analyzed based on changes (Δ) between post-intervention and pre-intervention values. The typical error (TE) method was used to identify Rs and NRs. Results showed a variation in the relative size of changes (% of changes) depending on the variable and sex. The greatest changes were observed in females’ abdomen muscle strength (Δ% = 23.89%), and the difference from that of males (Δ% = 5.98%) was statistically significant (p < 0.001) with very large effect size of (Cohen’s d = 0.941). Similar significant differences in relative changes were observed in body composition, but in the reverse direction. Males gained more from HIIT in the decrease in the body fat percentage (Δ% = −8.24%) and increase in skeletal muscle mass (Δ% = 3.38%) comparing to females (Δ% = 0.46, p = 0.040 and Δ% = 1.06%, p = 0.007, respectively). Effect size for body fat was small (Cohen’s d = 0.469), and for skeletal muscle mass it was moderate (Cohen’s d = −0.659). The results also showed positive significant differences in the prevalence of Rs compared to NRs in BFP, SMM, systolic BP (SBP), diastolic BP (DBP), CRF, and abdominal muscular strength (ABS) (p = 0.047, p = 0.047, p < 0.001, p = 0.003, p = 0.014, and p = 0.014, respectively). The effect was greatest and largest for SBP (Cohen’s ω = 0.67). Sex was related to the prevalence of Rs for ABS and close to significance for SMM. More males than females benefited from HIIT in SMM (p = 0.058), but more females than males had ABS benefits (p = 0.050). Males were more likely (2.5-fold) to be Rs than females in SMM. BMI was not related to the prevalence of Rs and NRs. Biological maturation was related to the prevalence of Rs and NRs in SMM (p = 0.036) and SBP (p = 0.016). In SBP, 100% of the early matured derived benefit from HIIT, but the effect size was small (Cramer’s V = 0.27). Those who maturated later were more likely (almost 70%) to be Rs. Thus, the HIIT program introduced to a typical physical education (PE) lesson can be considered partially effective. Therefore, there is a need to continue the search for an optimal and effective program for all health-related parameters. The close relationship between analyzed values and sex and biological maturation, but not BMI, indicates that the intervention programs should be tailored specifically for males and females.

Association between physical fitness and body composition with blood pressure in night school students in Brazil

“…The current results also indicate that CRF and muscular strength play a significant role in blood pressure, which aligns with Haapala et al 36 study, participants with better CRF, and a lower percentage of body fat presents better blood pressure. Similarly, other adolescents and adults who improved cardiorespiratory fitness and muscular strength were more likely to maintain adequate blood pressure levels 37 . Likewise, the study by Ras et al 38 suggests that higher VO2max is associated with lower blood pressure and greater abdominal repetitions.…”

Minimal Detectable Change in Resting Blood Pressure and Cardiorespiratory Fitness: A Secondary Analysis of a Study on School-Based High-Intensity Interval Training Intervention

“…In addition, analysis of the results focused only on changes. Detailed results (mean values and 95%CIs with standard deviations of the preand post-intervention measurements) and comparisons considering sexes separately have been published previously [19][20][21].…”

“…Detailed information about the participants and procedures, as well as the main statistical results (within-group-pre-and postintervention, and between-group-experimental and control groups), have been presented elsewhere [19,20]. The current work is a secondary analysis to study responses to the exercise problem, which began by examining the prevalence of responders and non-responders to the school-based HIIT intervention [21].…”

Frontiers and hotspots of high-intensity interval exercise in children and adolescents: text mining and knowledge domain visualization

“…Researchers were mainly concerned about the appropriate exercise intensity and adherence issues because availability of time can be a challenge for children and adolescents to engage in exercise. This observation becomes particularly interesting for those involved in school curricula because low-volume HIIE exercise protocols may provide a pragmatic adjunct to the health benefits of physical education lessons ( Martin-Smith et al, 2020 ; Domaradzki, 2023 ). However, implementing HIIE as a time-efficient strategy in PE lessons is not yet fully resolved ( Delgado-Floody, 2019 ; Liu, 2024 ).…”